Newcastle man's body found after falling into Amsterdam canal

By Kris Jepson

The family of Newcastle father-of-two, Neil Stewart, have paid tribute to him after his body was found in an Amsterdam port, describing him as "one of the most generous, kind, caring, and gentle people anyone could hope to know".

The family said in a statement:

Watch @krisjepson's report here:

Dutch police earlier confirmed they had located Mr Stewart's body, two weeks after launching a major search for him after he fell into the North Sea Canal in the city last month.

The police released this statement:

Neil Stewart was given the surprise weekend away to Amsterdam by his fiancee, Chelsea, and the couple had been celebrating the engagement of their friend, Glynn Ferris, on a party boat on one of the city's canals.

Mr Ferris said the devoted father of two lost his balance and fell off the back of the party boat as it headed back to Amsterdam central.

Today Mr Ferris set up a Facebook memorial group to him, to enable friends and family to send their condolences and to post their great memories of him and a fundraising page to repatriate Neil Stewart so his family can lay him to rest.

The Amsterdam Police carried out a major search of the North Sea Canal over a number of days.

During the search, boats from the fire service and the harbour company were launched and a police helicopter was deployed. Search teams also used sonar equipment and search dogs to help find him.